Lake Oconee Tournament Results

Sunday July 18^ththe Duluth Bass Club kicked off the Fall Season by venturing to Lake Oconee. For many years, Oconee has been a favorite summertime stop for the club, probably due to anglers’ ability to find fish lurking shallow in the extreme summer conditions. Oconee’s average depth is less than 25 feet and fish can be patterned year round in less than ten feet of water. Sunday’s results were no exception.

No earth shattering outcome, but not bad for the dog days either, as 27 of the 38 teams that fished presented fish to be weighed. Tournament creel reports, 65 bass weighed for a total weight of 125 pounds making an average weight just shy of 2 pound per fish. The club had three fish over the four-pound mark and one just missed the 4-lb. mark.

Finding the right shallow water pattern and fine tuning it, Jeff Atcheson and Byron Crawford laid claim to fall opener, with a five fish limit pressing the scales to 11.53. Jeff and Byron sealed their win by working a stretch off docks in a major creek where deeper water was nearby. Jeff later noted they had to work hard for their catch and fish extra slow by skipping finesse worm under the docks.

Second place position went two guys that have had a lot of good success with the club on Oconee, Steve Hicks and Josh Petty. Steve and Josh worked the same area as Jeff and Bryon. Steve noted that he and Josh culled three limits during the day to pick up a once or two here and there, only to fall just a little short. Their second place five fish limit benched the scales to 10.75.

The third place position went to two guys who appear to be on a roll, Tim Dixon and Brian Zaczek, were also the club’s June tournament champs at Hartwell. Tim and Brian’s sack of five weighed 10.08.

Gene Hacker fishing solo took home the fourth place payout with final five fish limit of the day. Gene’s five pressed the scales to 7.28.

Jim Blanchette also fished solo to grab fifth place with two quality that weighed 7.21. Jim also took home big fish honors with quality bass that benchmarked at 5.42. Jim noted that his fish came early on buzzbait and that he missed a hoss that made the big one look like a pup.

Thanks to everyone for their patients at the weigh-in proceedings. With several key people not being there, things went off with out a hitch with help from those who jump in and helped out, a special big thanks to them.

Winning Patterns: Shallow water patterns prevailed. The quality stringers all came above the 44 bridge in the Oconee. Reports of numbers of fish coming off main lake points where fish held tight to cover in brush piles. Docks with brush where deep water escapes also were holding quality fish.

Weather Conditions: Mother Nature cut the club a break for the dog days this year, unlike two years ago when conditions were not fit for man or beast. The morning was overcast and temp never hit the 90 degree mark through the day, where a nice 10 mph South-Southwest wind blew. Water surface temp ranged from 84 to 87 degrees. The river was heavy stained and began to clear the farther you went below the 44 bridge.

Looking ahead: The club still has a few team memberships available for those interested in joining. It’s not to late to jump in and join the fun, as next month the club heads to Lake Russell on Sunday August 15^th. The meeting is Tuesday August 10^th at Bass Pro Shops. Team registration begins at 6:30 PM.

Tournament Record			Lake Oconee					7-18-2004
RAMP = Sugar Creek Marina		Meeting	"T"	No. of	Big	Total	PNLTY	Tour.	Grand
Position TEAM		Points	Points	Fish	Fish	Lb./0.01	-0.25	Total	Total
1	Jeff Atcheson - Byron Crawford	50	100	5	3.93	11.53		184.48	334.48
2	Josh Petty - Steve Hicks	50	100	5		10.75	2	164.00	314.00
3	Brian Zaczek - Tim Dixon	50	100	5		10.08		161.28	311.28
4	Gene Hacker - James Eason	50	100	5		7.28		116.48	266.48
5	Jim Blanchette	50	100	2	5.42	7.21		115.36	265.36
6	Homer Gilstrap - Juan Galindo	50	100	2	4.54	6.95		111.20	261.20
7	David McAdams - Albert Little	50	100	2	4.36	5.75		92.00	242.00
8	Ken Sponsler - Jack Smith	50	100	2		5.30		84.80	234.80
9	Jerry Adams - (A) Bobby Hyde	50	100	2	3.87	5.09		81.44	231.44
10	Chip Scroggs	50	100	3		5.02		80.32	230.32
11	Bert Nagy - Art Harris	50	100	3		4.60	1	69.60	219.60
12	Michael Thomas - (A) Alan Thomas	50	100	3		4.25		68.00	218.00
13	Jason Bonvillian - Chuck Pollack	50	100	3		4.08		65.28	215.28
14	James Coberly - Kevin Buice	50	100	2		3.93		62.88	212.88
15	Ron - Matt Thomas	NO	100	1		3.69		59.04	159.04
16	Trevor Shattles - Karl Ellis	50	100	2		3.51		56.16	206.16
17	Scott - Botie White	50	100	3		3.63	1	54.08	204.08
18	Doug Edwards - Doug Edwards	50	100	2		3.24		51.84	201.84
19	Shane - Phil Gaddy	50	100	2		3.22		51.52	201.52
20	Buck Treadwell	50	100	2		2.76		44.16	194.16
21	Bill Booth - Bill Booth Sr.	50	100	2		2.68		42.88	192.88
22	David McGrew - Bryan Phillips	50	100	1		2.68		42.88	192.88
23	Alan Nalder - Steve Nalder	50	100	2		2.67		42.72	192.72
24	Eddie Krauth - Bryan Ashworth	50	100	1		2.59		41.44	191.44
25	Eric - Darren Holmes	50	100	1		2.56		40.96	190.96
26	Tony Combs - Carl Gessner	50	100	1		2.10		33.60	183.60
27	Scott Spoonamore - Mike Ratteree	50	100	1		1.87		29.92	179.92
T-28	Dusty Ingle - Rick Cruz	50	100	1		1.36		21.76	171.76
T-28	Rick Cotten - (A) Chris Mullinax	50	100					0.00	150.00
T-28	Bo Waldrip - Brandon Jefferson	50	100					0.00	150.00
T-28	Wayne Craft - J Kettles	50	100					0.00	150.00
T-28	Rick Morris - Michael Thornton	50	100					0.00	150.00
T-28	Royce - Dale Ingle	50	100					0.00	150.00
T-28	Roger Landress - Karl Ledsinger	50	100					0.00	150.00
T-28	Jay Donohue - Brian Music	50	100					0.00	150.00
T-28	Brian - Julie Robinson	50	100					0.00	150.00
T-28	Gary Nicholson - Scott Smith	50	100					0.00	150.00
38	Joe Yurina - Mike Haddad	50	100	Did Not Fish				0.00	150.00